It’s no surprise that AirTran, the TSA, and other authorities are circling the wagons and claiming that Petruna’s and, now, Dr. Robinson’s, accounts aren’t true. That’s what they always do. Attack the messenger to block the truth. But I believe Petruna and, now, Robinson. AirTran and the authorities have every motivation to lie. They acted in the best interests of . . .? Well, certainly not their passengers.

As we know, authorities think we shouldn’t know about these things. They don’t want us to panic or to be suspicious of Muslims, when they’re busy doing outreach over shawarmeh at “Ahmed’s Falafel Hut.” But I had the same experience when Detroit Metro Airport police told me a bomb was found on a Northwest flight, which was evacuated, and Northwest denied it. Or when Muslim men were on a Northwest flight from Detroit to Los Angeles and DHS released a report that was mostly redacted (because if it’s redacted, it didn’t happen, right?).

As I told you, prominent Tennessee-based radio talk show host, Steve Gill, conducted a lengthy, in-depth interview with Dr. Robinson, who confirmed everything Mr. Petruna wrote in his e-mail about what happened on that flight. Reader H.O. transcribed Steve’s interview, which I’d like you to read. Steve gave me permission to post that transcription here. Steve is no lightweight or fringe conspiracy theorist. He’s a major talk radio host in the South (as well as an attorney, professor, and former White House fellow) and asks the tough questions. And his show is nationally syndicated on radio stations across the country.

Steve Gill “. . .Middle Eastern men that were on the plane and that, as they had pulled back from the jetway to taxi to the airport or to the runway. . .that uh, he said two had gotten up and were taking pictures with their cell phones of the other passengers on-in that area. This is while the plane is taxi-ing on the runway. That’s what he said, yes.

Ok, hang on. We are going to talk more. Keith Robinson was there. He’s
relating more of what happened on Flight 297. Air Tran says oh, no. Nothing happened. It was just a misunderstanding. One guy just didn’t shut off his cell phone. Keith Robinson was there, he’s going to give us more of the scoop that the main stream media seems to be ignoring. Well, maybe some of them are starting to catch on. We’ll follow up with Keith Robinson with more on the Steve Gill Show in just a moment.

break

Steve Gill: Hey, welcome back again, this is the Steve Gill Show. An incident occured on Air Tran Flight 297 on November 17th on a flight from Atlanta to Houston TX. A Tedd Petruna who works for the National bouancy lab in Houston Tx for NASA accounted for what happened and what he saw on that flight. It has now gone viral all over the internet and despite the fact that AirTran and others that are trying to cleanse the story including the msm are saying that an anonymous e-mail has spread a false rumor. Well, it’s anonymous.

Tedd Petruna is a real guy. I talked to him myself yesterday for quite some time. He has confirmed that everything that he wrote in his e-mail is what he saw. Other passengers are starting to confirm what they saw and experienced It will be interesting to see whether the flight crew will step forward or whether they are being threatened by Air Tran Airlines with their jobs to keep them silent. Another guy who was there, who saw what happened as it happened is Dr. Keith Robinson, a health media consultant and communications specialist, critical incidents response chaplain and he’s relating the story to us here on the Steve Gill show.

Now, Keith, you are telling us that basically as these men were acting up on this, in this group of eleven or twelve people, did anybody tell you who they were, where they were going, what, where they were from? Any of that information come to light, by the way?

Robinson: No, no. There was only, they only spoke Arabic. And uh, so I didn’t understand what they were saying once I came on board, but the people. . .

Steve Gill: they were continuing to talk. One of the things I wanted to get to is that basically the passengers were telling you they were doing gestures like they were going to shoot people, they were refusing to sit down as the plane was taxi-ing to the runway. You don’t do that on any plane anywhere! This business that ‘I didn’t understand ‘ is a bunch of crock!

Robinson: Well, it’s true that the uh, these are abnormal actions that anybody should be making. I mean, we’ve had ministers wives thrown off planes for less than that. Um, so

Steve Gill: Exactly. Christian minister’s wives.

Robinson: Yes, yes.

Steve Gill: So the folks at AirTran are saying that Homeland Security was never involved and that you talked to a man who was supposedly there claiming to be from Homeland Security flashing a badge, claiming that he was there to assess the situation.

Robinson: That’s correct. As I went down the jetway, I met him and relayed to him what the gentlemen had just told me. And he said, well, I’m Homeland Security, that’s my job here. So, I said, well, I’m a chaplain with the international fellowship of chaplains and this is what we do. So, if I need to help you, let me know. I went ahead and boarded the plane and the new flight crew was on the plane. I’m not sure they were fully briefed as to what they were walking into.

Steve Gill: Now it’s not just that one stewardess left the plane, the entire flight crew that experienced these eleven to twelve muslim men, the entire flight crew said we’re outta here. We’re not flying. And about twelve passengers including Tedd Petruna also got off the plane.

Robinson: That’s correct. That’s correct.

Steve Gill: The people that stayed on and there were what, about sixty folks or so?

Robinson: It looked like there may have been that many. There was only one person that, other than some pilots that were going to make connections probably in other, in Houston, um, had boarded and they sat up towards the front. The only other person that boarded that I saw, was me. And uh, the fella warned me, that I had spoken to, he said, ‘you’re not getting on that plane, are you?’ And I said, well, yes. He said, ‘how come? These guys are doing this stuff?’ And I said, well that’s where chaplains are supposed to be. You know, if they’re upset then, that upset about it, the folks left on that plane are pretty upset too.

Steve Gill: Do you know if that guy you were talking to was Tedd Petruna or another passenger?

Robinson: No. This was another gentleman. This was the first guy that tried to get off the plane and uh, so I continued down. I told the flight attendants I’ll be in the middle of the plane if you need me. If there’s anybody that’s getting close to breaking or something, bring them to me and we’ll go sit and talk and we’ll work through this. And they were pretty concerned already. The flight attendants that got off were sobbing, their faces were red, they were obviously stressed. They could not have flown. They could not have served us. They couldn’t take care of themselves at that point in time. They were so stressed.

Steve Gill: At this point the men were continuing to laugh and behave in kind of a strange way as this continued. Keith, I want you to hang on a second as we take a quick break. There’s more to this story and folks – it gets worse! We’re back in a moment with Keith Robinson who was on flight 297.

break

Steve Gill: Welcome back, this is the Steve Gill Show live at the Opryland Gaylord Resort Convention Center in Nashville. I’ll talk a lot about Christmas today, but I’ll also talk about a disturbing incident aboard an AirTran flight, flight 297 Atlanta to Houston on the afternoon of November 17th. Tedd Petruna, a passenger on that flight has shared what happend in an e-mail that has gone viral. I’ve got that e-mail linked up on our website. We talked with Tedd Petruna personally, myself last night for about 45 minutes and he verifies that everything he had written in his account is exactly accurate and true.

Another passenger who got on that flight after eleven muslim men were brought off and then put back on, twelve passengers including the flight crew, or not including the flight crew decided to get off that flight because of the bizzare behavior of a group of muslim men claiming that they didn’t speak any english and therefore didn’t understand you and couldn’t just walk around the plane while it’s taxi-ing. . . couldn’t continue to use their cell phones and other electronic devices while the plane was taxi-ing while they were being told to put them away by flight attendants. . .that dancing, taking pictures of their fellow passengers and uh, acting, according to some accounts, like they were shooting some of the passengers with guns. Basically doing everything they could to attack and traumatise and terrorize those on the plane.

AirTran has cleansed the account of the story as has the main stream media, but the truth is starting to come out. And one of those telling us the truth is Dr. Keith Robinson, a health media consultant, communications specialist, a critical incident response chaplain who was aboard the flight as it made it’s way from Atlanta to Houston after a two and a half hour delay because of the guys supposedly not turning off his cell phone.

I would point out, my understanding, Keith, is that AirTran is kind of like Southwest Airlines, you get (??) seating, you sit wherever you want. And when this group of eleven men got on the plane initially, they put themselves throughout the plane and according to Tedd Petruna’s account, at one point, one of the guys in the very front of the plane called one of the guys in the middle of the plane on his cell phone and they were having conversations. Again, they didn’t sit as a group, they spread out through the plane, just like the 9/11 hi-jackers had done.

Robinson: Yeah, there was a group that was in the front of the airplane and then another group that was towards the back of the airplane and I tried to, as soon as I saw this starting, I took out my laptop and began to write what you have seen.

Steve Gill: Yeah, I’ve got that linked up on our website by the way. Keith Robinson’s account at GillReport.com click on the Daily Notes button. It’s there along with Tedd Petruna’s e-mail account. You can read all the details there and you were literally writing this as it happend, right Keith?

Robinson: That’s correct. That’s uh, years ago, I had my own nationally syndicated radio talk show and so I knew that I could forget things very quickly if I didn’t start writing it down and perceiving what was going on . And most of the people, when most of these men had gone into a stoic kind of um, appearance. They had already been taken off. Somebody had talked to them. Their luggage had been gone through and put them back on. And, but as I entered the plane, it was, you could feel the tension that everyone in the plane. You could, nobody would make eye contact. Eyes were down, The biggest active part of this, went on before I got on.

Steve Gill: And yet, even as the flight continued with you, you report that they would suddenly start speaking loudly in Arabic and then a burst of laughter would erupt and they would still, you thought be toying with the emotions of the people aboard the flight.

Robinson: Well, yeah, they would get up in the overhead compartments and pull down backpacks and pull out, you know, things that may have been recorders or something like that. It looked like an electronic device, You see . . .

Steve Gill: And moving things around. Moving things from one part of the plane, moving it up to the luggage compartment in the front of the plane inexplicably – for no good reason.

Robinson: Well, and that’s true. You see, one of the things that just happened beforehand was Fort Hood. So, a lot of Americans, most of America, probably are still on edge about the fact that the shooting went on there. So many people were already on edge. Now, whenever, when I got on I tried to assess, as I was walking down the aisle, how people were doing. And there was one or two people who started showing, you know, a little agitation, getting up walking back and forth during the flight. But they eventually settled down, sat down and I um, went to the back of the plane so that I could watch what was going on in front of us in case we needed to do something. There was a lot of prayer going on in the back of that plane. Let me let you know that . . .

Steve Gill: Yes, you pointed that out in your piece, it was radiating inside and outside of the plane. Has anybody from AirTran or Homeland Security, did they conduct an investigation. You guys got to Houston, everybody apparently went their own way. Any follow up investigation? Did you talk to anybody? Did anybody ask you any questions about this?

Robinson: No. Not a bit. Not a bit.

Steve Gill: So this claim that AirTran did an investigation is first of all an outright lie if they don’t talk to the passengers that were on that plane.

Robinson: Well, it certainly raises questions as to how that investigation was done. I’m concerned though, that the people that went through this event, see if they go through a perceived life threatening event, may develop post traumatic stress, that could be a post traumatic stress disorder after a certain time and I would think that the airline would want to follow these people. Because if they develop this, then, you know, it points back to the event itself.

Steve Gill: Now, so far, Petruna’s e-mail got this ball rolling. Your piece is now getting some attention. I know there has been intense media attention, I mean, Tedd’s getting e-mails and phone calls like no-body’s business because his actual work information has put him at risk of losing his job at NASA. They’ve pretty much told him to shut up or he’s going to get fired because of telling the truth about this incident. I mean, obviously you’re getting contacted by other media outlets likeme and others. Have you heard from any other passengers? Arer other passengers going to speak up? Do we know anything about the flight crew?

Robinson: I have not heard a thing from anyone else. I have received e-mails and spoken to other pilots that, asking if this was true, trying to check the credibility of the people writing this and in relating some of their own concerns that they’ve seen also. This appears to be

Steve Gill: The problem is this looks like one of those e-mails that gets distributed, you know, anonymously, and don’t know whether it’s true and that’s how AirTran is trying to say ‘an anonymous e-mail account’. No, Tedd Petruna’s a real guy. His name is on it. Your name is on it. You are willing to talk about it. The media is just no focusing on getting the truth about it.

Robinson: Well, I believe that may be changing and we may be able to thank your organization for opening up and getting it out there because they have got to do something with it. America has got to figure out how they are going to deal with this type of what I’m calling “ethnic bullying’. It’s uh, we are we are still in a 9-12 mentality and we should be. We should be at a condition yellow so that we are aware of what is going on around us. But the question is how do we as Americans stand together to not let people think that we’re scared – first – because I think that if we let them know that we are scared we invite this stuff.

Steve Gill: That’s part of what’s happening. AirTran had an incident where they took nine muslims off a plane January 1st. they got castigated by the Council on American Islamic Relations, they got attacked, they were threatened with law suits. The same thing with the six muslim imams who were behaving strangely in Minnesota. They ended up suing their fellow passengers, suing the airport authority, suing the airline. They’ve been cowed into silence in the same way that Major Hasan was able to proceed with nobody able to do anything despite all the red flags – because they didn’t want to look like a bigot. And that’s what we have playing out here as well.

Robinson: Well, and it’s important that we focus our attention on the people that are doing this and not – because I’ve seen many wonderful muslim people and middle easterners. There are many very good ones. And a few that are radicalized are really giving a lot of problems to everybody else. But I think even they are scared to bring this up because you’d think they’d say, ‘hey, stop doing that! You’re giving our whole religion a bad name!’

Steve Gill: Yeah, ignoring the risks, doesn’t make us any safer. You know, obviously, you’re willing to speak out. Are you going to be doing more appearances? I mean Fox News, those kinds of guys? Have you talked to them yet?

Robinson: I have spoken to them. I just got off . . the initial story was done by KHOUTV channel 2I here in Houston. They spoke to me just before I went on the air with you and want to do an interview to kind of get the rest of the story. And so, they are going to revisit this as well. And I think that’s good journalism. I think that’s good journalism to go back into it and say gosh, maybe we didn’t get everything we needed to.

Steve Gill: Especially because the initial story was based on what the AirTran spokesman said and that’s basically that they, you know, they had a guy that didn’t shut off his cell phone and it caused a two and a half hour delay. I mean, that’s pretty much the sanitised version and that is far from what actually happened on this flight. And they also don’t identify the group, they mention that there was a group of men, you know, everybody kind of, in the media goes ‘I wonder if they were Arab men?” ‘I wonder if they were muslim men?’ Well, the answer is YES, they were.

Robinson: THere’s one difference that I observed and that is in Tedd’s, what he wrote, he eluded to the fact that they were in traditional garb. I didn’t see that. I saw, you know, the guys were wearing slacks and shirt like we would wear. And um, so you know, I did not see them overtly dressed so thtat you could tell. Their skin color, the way that they talked is the way they gave away where they were from. But uh, everything else that Tedd said rings, rings very true.

Steve Gill: I know that yesterday, after we detailed this story, we got several calls from airline commercial pilots saying they are not seeing the size of this group but they see similar instances where, you know, two or three muslim men, Arab men doing what appear to be a test probe or a test run. They’re being told by the airlines, we’re being told by the authorities, don’t talk about it, you know, shut up about it. That’s what you’re hearing. I understand that’s what Tedd has heard about it from other pilots as well. That this is not an isolated incident.

Robinson: Well, it doesn’t seem to be. I guess the thing, that as a chaplain, the thing that it tells me to do is that we need to first – we don’t want to live in fear. We are, our forefathers fought and bled in order for us to have the freedoms that we’ve got. What I see is that the people feel like we are tearing chunks of America away and we’re giving it away. That it’s not the same America. And that it can be the same America if we, as the citizens of this America start saying, look, this is our place. These are the things that we do and we are going to stand together.

So I think we’ve still got great strength if we go inside and we remember where we came from. We remember we’ve still got God working with us. You know, a lot of us pushed him out of the schools, pushed him out of our lives. He’s still back there, still working. I see miracles all the time in my work as a chaplain. We still got much to draw upon for our strength. We just cannot live in fear. You know, bullying, whether it happens on a playground or whether it happens in the home of a domestic violence case, living under a repression is worse than death. It’s worse than death. This is not the worst thing that can happen to you. But it’s time that we remember our heritage. Remember . . .

Steve Gill: Remember and stand up and speak out. Dr. Keith Robison, a media health consultant, communications specialist, critical incidents response chaplain – his account of what happened on AirTran Flight 297 is at Gill Report dot com. Click on the daily notes button and scroll right down and read his account. Tedd Petruna, another of the passengers on that flight. If you’ve gotten the e-mail, if you’ve seen it and wondered if this is true.

Uh, YEAH, yeah, it is true. We’ve dug into this story. I’ve talked to Tedd Petruna, you’ve heard it from Keith Robinson, others will maybe come forth. Maybe the pilot, maybe the crew, maybe some of the other passengers will finally come forth and share their stories as well. Thanks for being with us and keep spreading the word. Keep spreading the Gospel, my friends. You betcha. God bless you. 800-688-9522.

You can also send your comments via e-mail Steve@gillreport.com Why is the mainstream media sanitizing this story. Why is TSA, AirTran, why are they covering up the truth if nothing really happend on flight 297?
We’re back in a moment. I’m Steve Gill. News Radio 1510 WLAC

break

Steve Gill: Hey welcome, this is the Steve Gill Show 800-688-9522. You can also send your comments in via e-mail Steve@gillreport.com

I know hearing that account of that flight, AirTran Flight 297 you’re going, nah, surely not! How can they cover this stuff up? Well, that’s why we wanted to let you hear the voices of those who were there that can say this is what I saw, rather than the cleansed government version of what happened. Then go to our report at the GillReport.com, find the daily notes button. It’s the top story.

You’ve got the account of Tedd Petruna who was on the plane. You’ve read his account. There’s Keith Robinson. His account is also available to you there as well. And uh, I’ve got to tell you, I’m hearing from pilots, I’m hearing from other folks, passengers on planes that are seeing these same sort of dry run, test terrorism cases perhaps that are happening. If you see something strange – SPEAK UP.

Contrary to Keith Robinson, if I see the flight crew get up and say I’m not flying this plane because it’s not safe, I’m getting off the plane. I’m getting off the plane. I know Keith stayed because he said “I’m a chaplain, this is what chaplains do”. Um, you know, if you were in front of me, you would have been behind me quickly as I would have been getting off of the plane. In any event, go to the website if you want to read more of the details. Also, we want to give you a little bit more insight. We’re at Gaylord Opryland Resort convention Center. We’re doing our Christimas show. It’s not really our Christmas show, but it’s sort of the kick off of the Christmas show and . . . .

159 Responses

Further details on this story are now emerging. It is now know that the hijackers tickets were purchased by George Soros. And the two in the back of the plane weren’t watching porno. No, it was much worse than that. They were actually watching An Inconvenient Truth. Another one was seen tossing a copy of Going Rouge into the toilet. And the terrorist in seat 27c was eating acorns! Wake up people!

Leader of the libtards, keep on practicing your dhimmi ways while you can. When your Muslim overlords arrive, they will kill out all you useful idiots.

You can deny that this event was fictitious, but if you deny the 6 imams and Malik’s act of open Jihad terror and deny that there were numerous acts of terror including 9/11 in the name of Islam, not light would be bright enough to dispel your darkness.

I challenge one of you happy-talking apologists for muslim extremists to address JM’s point (December 6th,12:16PM). A crtitical, objective thinker and seeker of the truth would obviously want to know exactly why the original flight crew refused to fly.

That same critical thinker might consider the business implaications of an airline who handled the situation in the way ATA did, and then had to explain it. Denial is simply the means to keep people flying ATA, because if they admit after the fact, many will avoid ATA. They are in a difficult position now, as the truth will certainly come out. If people can’t engage in honest, objective discussion, they are simply noise makers. discussion. You are a typical noisemaker.

One thing we can all agree on at this point. The media should get after this story and get at the truth of what happened. Start by addressing JM’s question.

——
(snip) On Friday, AirTran spokesman Christopher White, formerly with the TSA, was snide and rude when I called to inquire about the incident. He refused to answer questions and referred me to the above-mentioned website, which is not an official statement from AirTran but a public rebuking of a customer’s circulating e-mail. Note to Chris: putting a customer’s writing on your site making him a target for death threats and ridicule seems rather irresponsible for a major airline. I hope someone reviews your qualifications as spokesperson.

Then, Saturday, AirTran went further, posting the assertion that the disputed e-mail writer from Texas, according to “legally binding” flight manifests, wasn’t on the plane (just in case any of us believe the “urban legend” he supposedly made up out of thin air to get attention he isn’t seeking,,, or something).

The e-mail writer told me today AirTran is lying and he has his boarding pass, but I’m beyond this by now, because I discovered another highly credible eyewitness to the incident was none other than Cobb businessman and security expert Brent C. Brown, CEO of Chesley-Brown International.

Brown, who is also chairman of the Marietta History Museum, confirmed late Saturday that he was on Flight 297 and that there was chaos on the plane. He believes the entire incident was mishandled by AirTran officials, though has kind words for the pilot, who he said, “was dead right” in his decision-making, and is to be commended for turning the plane around.

Seated in the third row in business class, he said it was obvious the suspicious men were interacting with each other and refusing to sit down, grounds for the pilot’s decision.

Once back at the gate, however, Brown says there were no law enforcement officials visible (this contradicts the Texan’s e-mail) and airline officials weren’t talking to the passengers, who were openly upset and refusing to fly.

“The tension on board was incredible,” Brown said. The men who came back on board after questioning were belligerent and smirking, and the people who got off, he confirmed, were traumatized.

So the story evolves. And in this age of jihadi Army officers and internet hoaxes, us regular folk continue to seek the truth. (end snip)
——

Just because some of the details aren’t right does not mean that the entire story is necessarily false. And this is NOT a conservative/liberal confrontation; the implications obviously affect us all – and any loved ones who might be on a flight in which a group of passengers willfully disobey direct orders and disrupt the flight. Who knows if it’s a dry run or just fishing for a lawsuit; it accomplishes the same mayhem and – yes – TERROR for the passengers.

Again, look at the above news account and see what this latest witness says.

You freaking idiots. Robinson is an out and out liar. Forget what airtran said. They obviously bungled the incident with their clumsiness and I have no doubt the passengers who caused the delay were morons. But not as stupid as some of you buying this. If Steve Gill did the research he claimed he did, he would have found an earlier Atlanta Journal article interviewing AN ACTUAL PASSENGER on the flight who produced a boarding pass to the paper and she gives a pretty detailed account of what happened and it does not have much in common with what Robinson just said on the Gill show.

As an attorney, Ms. Schlussel should be expected to understand the specific meaning of the word “corroborate”. She should also realize that Rev. Robinson’s account can in no way be said to corroborate that of Mr. Petruna, since Rev. Robinson wasn’t on the plane during the events so graphically (and in such a self-aggrandizing manner) depicted by Mr. Petruna.

All Rev. Robinson can confirm of his own knowledge is that people were escorted out of the jetway, and most of those people returned and flew to Houston with him. Almost everything else in his account would be regarded as “hearsay” in court, as he admits he is just repeating what other people have told him. Ms. Schlussel, if she is a good attorney, should realize that simple confirmation an incident occurred, which everyone freely admits anyway, is a long way from a confirmation that Mr. Petruna has given an accurate account of that incident.

Since there is substantial evidence showing that Mr. Petruna wasn’t on the flight himself, along with contradictory statements by at least one other passenger who can prove she was on the flight, combined with the refusal of Mr. Petruna to respond to additional queries about his story, I would expect a logical, rational person would start walking back her attachment to this obvious fabrication.

But then I remember we’re talking about Debbie Schlussel, and I realize that I shouldn’t hold my breath.

This guy is a liar, but maybe he is part of an intricate Islamic master plot. Have a guy claim he thwarted a terrorist dry run and be called a hero. Then when it comes out that it never happened, everybody is now not afraid of Islamic terrorist. Very cunning of them.

Having some experience with eyewitness accounts, I find the factual disagreements among the different witness accounts well within the range of normal for eyewitness accounts. Further, if this was really just a “non-event” and nothing noteworthy occurred, then why did the plane get delayed for so long? Why return to the gate, if the only issue was a man who didn’t understand English and had to have his camera/cell phone/or whatever, taken from him by the flight attendant? Why did all his “friends” have to deplane with him, if he continued to be the only problem? I’ve been on a flight when a drunk refused to do what the flight attendant told him. We returned to the gate and he was removed from the flight, which then continued. The delay was no more than 15-20 minutes, and there was certainly no change of flight crew, in fact we all gave the flight crew a round of applause as our flight taxied back out. Why did the entire flight crew have to be replaced before the plane continued? They are not generally overly excitable, poorly controlled type people, after all. Why did a dozen passengers refuse to continue on a flight with these guys on it? And why did the airline think it was reasonable to provide free transfers to another flight for all those who “were uncomfortable” continuing with the muslim men on their flight? Have you ever even HEARD of a flight being delayed for hours because someone refused to stop using an electronic device? The story just doesn’t make sense. Even without considering the eyewitness accounts, we do KNOW several incontrovertible facts: 1) A group of passengers got on the plane together and seated themselves scattered around the cabin (unusual behavior, and especially so if one or more of them didn’t speak English – in their shoes wouldn’t YOU have sat together to take advantage of the one, or few, who could understand English?), 2) The plane returned to the gate and disembarked all of this group of passengers (very unusual, particularly as it was only one who was allegedly refusing to follow instructions – unless you believe the eyewitness accounts that ALL were acting obstreperously), 3) The plane was delayed for hours by this, seemingly simple, event (most unusual, many other planes have had to stop and debark an uncooperative passenger without being delayed for more than the time it took to unload them, not hours), 4) The entire flightcrew was replaced before the plane could continue on (This is quite extraordinary, in fact I have never heard of it occurring in any other instance, but perhaps they were nearing their maximum allowed hours or something – if so, why doesn’t the airline say so?), 5) A dozen or so passengers deplaned as well, and then refused to continue on the same flight when the meslim passengers were allowed to reboard (Again, very unusual; can you ever remember refusing to reboard a flight, at all? If so, was it because you were worried about mechanical problems or other passengers? I’ve personally NEVER heard of a group of passengers refusing to continue on their scheduled flight because of other passengers being allowed on the flight), 6) The airline thought it was justified in giving free transfers to those passengers who refused to continue (This might be a simple PR ploy, but it is also eually consistent with the story told by some of the eyewitnesses). Now I wasn’t there, so I can’t KNOW what happened, but I can KNOW that it was clearly something very exceptional, and as yet unexplained, except by the eyewitness accounts. So clearly, treating this as a non-event is just as wrong as treating it as a full-blown “trial run” for another 9/11 attack (there being no evidence for this either). It needs to be openly and honestly investigated and reported.

The Flight Crew, at least the Captain and First officer may have HAD to abandon that particular flight after the airplane was forced back to the gate due to time constraints. It may simply have been illegal for them to continue to fly because they may have exceeded their duty time, or block to block time limits for the day by doing so. Those are Federal Laws they would have been up against, not some simple company policy. Factoring in the delay they may have realized they couldn’t continue and called the company while the aircraft was on it’s way back to the gate. That would explain the efficiency with which the crews were changed.

This incident could easily be clarified if the parties involved would come before the media and answer the right questions. Until then, this thing will continue to take on a life of it’s own.

Obviously the liberal trolls, muslims and other jealous posers are out here because they feel they can bury Debbie Schlussel on this story. Debbie has been ahead of the curve on so many issues regarding Islam and Muslim terrorism. That axe has been grinding for years.

Debbie Schlussel buried herself and her crediblity long, long ago. The fact that she continues to facilitate a website that harbors a handful of bigots including yourself is particularly sad. Bigots post here to vindicate their madness. It’s a safe haven for them, and you feel right at home here.

Oh, come on, people. Passengers who disrupt takeoff and ignore instructions from the flight crew are routinely removed from aircraft; and are frequently arrested, regardless of ethnicity. The behavior described by Dr. Robinson is a clear violation of federal law; the men would have had no grounds to sue, and there would have been no reason for the airline to fear a successful lawsuit. On the other hand, if the men had been allowed to return to the plane after practically jumping up in their seats and screaming “Look at us! We’re terrorists!”, and something had happened to the flight, then the airline would have been sued into bankruptcy. Returning them to the flight would have made no sense at all, even from a cold-hearted, bottom line point of view. And if the folks in charge DID happen to go temporarily insane in this case, I have trouble believing that ANY of the passengers would have gotten back on the plane. Would YOU fly with a bunch of men who acted like that? I wouldn’t; and I’m not someone who spends a whole lot of time worrying about whether there are terrorists on my airplane. This one just doesn’t pass the smell test.

The important thing to remember, of course, is that whether or not Tedd Petruna was on the flight he saved from certain destruction, he’s still a hero in my book – and he should be in yours, too! Hooray for Tedd Petruna!

By the way, that extra D in his first name isn’t for “Debunked” or “Delusional” as reasonable people might presume. Oh, no – it’s for “DARING!”

Hey, I’m not ignorant or critical or PROTESTING TOO MUCH!!!! Like you, Debbie and all the good people here, I’m scared into diapers by the threat we all face from bomb-carrying Islamic terrorists.

I’m especially scared when those Islamic terrorists have a cell phone! And are actually Mexican! And when they’re taken off the plane, and then put back on the plane, because they pose no threat!

Thank goodness Tedd Petunia was there to Kick those terrorists OFF the plane WITHOUT EVEN BEING ON IT! Amazing! It has to be true, as it was referenced by the good Rev. Robmuson who ALSO wasn’t even ON IT! The fact they were able to do this, with only their minds and email accounts is proof of a miracle and we should all pray about it and say bad things about Air Tran and Obama for some reason.

In fact, no. There’s no comparison to the “flying Imams” case — while the Imams may have acted suspiciously (or may not have; the matter is disputed), nobody has ever alleged that they did anything as aggressive, frightening and downright weird as these passengers did, according to Dr. Robinson’s account. Standing up, dancing, singing, using electronic devices and making threatening gestures during takeoff would be an open-and-shut federal crime; any airline official with a brain that functioned at all would have been far more worried about being sued by the survivors of a terror attack.

We could assume that the airline officials and TSA personnel on the scene were all crazy, retarded, or high on animal tranquilizers, of course; but that still doesn’t explain why most of the passengers would get back on the plane with a bunch of Arabs who had more or less announced their intention to kill them all. Any guesses on that one?

Most of those that inhabit the fools’ paradise of believing that there are no radical Muslims with evil intent for this country and its citizens are brothers to the 3 monkeys – see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil.

Anyone with half a brain and a scintilla of honesty will realize that Malik’s attack was one of Jihad, the 19 who destroyed the WTC were radical Muslims and there are constant acts of violence and infiltration going on.

The only question is what percentage of the Muslim population at large is involved in these activities. Since the potential threat is so great, a normal society with common sense would inhibit access to sensitive sites and positions of influence even for a minority. The lack of protest to terrorist events by the Muslim population at large indicates an unhealthy level of complicity.

A sane society would be wary of these things and take much more aggressive steps to protect itself.

You and your cohorts world of denial that any issue exists is the mirror image insanithy of your distorted view of Debbie’s attempts to make us aware of the severe threat that we face.

PLEASE READ MY 4TH PARAGRAPH ESPECIALLY. IT HAS MERIT
AND CAME TO ME LAST NIGHT WHILE THINKING OF HOW
THIS OBVIOUS ATTEMPT TO CAUSE TROUBLE THAT THE MUSLIMS
KNEW WOULD BRING ATTENTION COULD GAIN THEM ANYTHING.
THE FRIGHTENING THOUGHT IN PARAGRAPH 4 HIT ME AND IS QUITE
FEASABLE.

THERE SEEMS TO BE MUCH TO THIS…
ONE) MAYBE IT WAS DOWNPLAYED BECAUSE NATIONAL SECURITY DOES KNOW OF AN IMPENDING ATTACK AND DO NOT WANT TO SCARE THE TERRORISTS..CATCH THEM ALL
INSTEAD.

2) TERRORISTS ARE TAKING PICTURES OF CREW.

3) TERRORISTS ARE SEEING HOW FAR THEY CAN GO WITH CELL PHONES.
(THIS IS IMPORTANT-SEE BELOW!)

4) TESTING THE LENGTH OF TIME IS A TEST ALSO FOR RECEPTION. A BOMB COULD BE ON THE LUGGAGE BELOW AND COULD BE DETONATED BY A CELL PHONE.
ALSO, AND I JUST THOUGHT OF THIS..SINCE MOST AIRPORTS ONLY CHECK YOUR PERSON,AND SOME DO HAVE BOMB SNIFFING DOGS BUT OTHERS SO NOT, THE EXPLOSIVE CALLED C-4 IS AN INCREDIBLY SMALL PUTTY LIKE EXPLOSIVE THAT NEEDS A SMALL ELECTRIC CHARGE TO SET IT OFF OR PRIMER CHORD…EVEN THOUGH IT IS EXTREMELY EXPLOSIVE, IF A TERRORIST PUT IT INSIDE HIS PHONE (A SMALL AMOUNT), IT WOULD PROBABLY NOT HAVE ENOUGH EXPLOSIVE POWER TO BRING DOWN THE PLANE…HOWEVER, IF 11 PHONES, EACH CONTAINING
SMALL AMOUNTS OF C-4 IN THEM, AND THE MEN GOT CLOSE TO EACH OTHER,(AS THEY DID WALKING AROUND) ALL IT WOULD TAKE IS ONE TERRORIST TO “DIAL ALL” , A DEVICE OFFERED ON SOME PHONES
TO DIAL “ALL” THE PEOPLE ON YOUR LIST FOR A CONFERENCE CALL..ALL THE PHONES WOULD RING AT THE SAME TIME AND ONE HUGE EXPLOSION COULD OCCUR.!

A major golf clap for PETER WALKER. The thought process there was fascinating. And the all caps really sells the crazy extremely well. The CIA should just hire you right now since you clearly know so much about terrorism. They could really use your insightful ramblings.

Many years back I saw a program about major historical fires and why there were so many casualties. Of course most people thought that panic was the main cause. It seems it’s just the opposite. People walking into a burning subway because they just have to be at their next destination, or a nun at a Catholic school that went looking for the Mother Superior to pull the alarm because that’s how the fire drill was always done, while the school went up in flames, and many more instances like this. I’ll bet in a situation like this “Dry Run” more than half the sheeple would have simply ignored it and put it out of their mind. BTW, to prove their point the producers of the show set a controlled blazing fire in a store that was visible to all the customers. Well, they all bought their cigarettes, beer, groceries, lottery tickets and paid the cashier without even a mention of the very visible inferno in front of their eyes.
SHEEPLE, let’s face it, youve been programmed to let the gov’t take care of you…don’t resist a robber or a rapist, never fight back, let the police take care of business, you just go on with your life and we’ll take care of everything…Yeah, Right.
And you know, I’ve been to this site well over a hundred times and Debbie’s always been right so far. If this story is false than she’s wrong less than one percent of the time, compared to the troll mussie loving libtards visiting here who are wrong 99 percent of the time.
Of course some idiot troll is gonna prove my point by responding to what I just said, call me racist, whatever… bring it on. It’s kinda fun to bring the cockroaches out of the wood work.

Steambadger said: You mean like the time she said the Virginia Tech shooter might be a “Paki”? Yep; she’s always right.

Looks to me like Deb was questioning whether “Asian” was being used as a term for a Pakistani Muslim like the PC media like to do. The shooter was anti-Christian btw, and who hates Christians the most? Hmmmmmmmm, let me think…..
This happened 2 1/2 yrs. ago, but just for the sake or argument let’s say she was wrong. 10 columns a week x52 weeks x 2 1/2 years equals 1250+. If she was wrong that one time that’s still less than a tenth of one percent. That’s pretty good don’t you think?

Your denial of any problem due to fear of not being PC and suspecting people of a religion that has large numbers of adherents that espouse violent overthrow of infidel societies is un American, willful blindness, contrary to elementary common sense and suicidal PC.

Human beings are the only animals stupid enough to walk into a deadly situation, even when their instincts are screaming to them to get the hell out.
Face the facts Joel, Islam was, is and always will be a threat to us infidels who won’t bow down to their stupid cult.
And even if there was no real threat this time, I’d rather be wrong a hundred times than dead once.
And YES! Debbie IS doing wonderfully noble work.

There can’t be anyone dumber than you because with your PC addled brain you’ve obviously haven’t read Debbie’s opinion of Palin. She unfortunately shares your propaganda soaked attitude even though she should support Palin as the best of all the political candidates out there now.

Yes, and the report does not contradict anywhere in it the fact that this was a dry run–even though Air Tran doesn’t want to admit it. Look at the facts in the report: The entire crew refused to continue on with the flight? Why, if they weren’t scared about something? They evidently refused to continue on when the TSA put the Muslims back on the flight. Why was the flight delayed for two hours?

I remember being on a Korean Air flight and a nutty young Canadian was disrupting the flight in the plane while still at the gate. Security boarded the flight at the gate and dragged her off. It took 5 minutes for her to be off the plane and we left.

Yet this flight was delayed TWO HOURS for disruptive passengers. It must have been a serious issue.

And then Air Tran in the report linked above does not know what religion the passengers disrupting the flight were. Yeah, right.

Also, notice how Air Tran’s report completely contradicts the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s report that the trolls were linking to earlier. Explain that, “Joel Miller.”

And then you have the trolls on Debbie’s site, like “Joel Miller” (whose real name probably is Mohammed). Just what is about this story are they so upset about that they would be posting here nonstop for the last 48 hours? Its truth, perhaps? If this story had no element of truth to it, they would not be so bothered by it.

There are no facts at all to support your notion that this was a dry run. A thorough investigation was conducted – and that’s what took two hours. There are a variety of reasons why the flight crew was switched out. There are no facts right now to support your notion that the disruptive passengers were Muslim. You can say “yeah right” over and over. It doesn’t prove your unfounded theories.

The fact is — 60 passengers continued on with this flight without incident. That’s further proof that Chaplain Robinson’s account is as equally fallacious as Petruna’s, and these passengers felt no fear of a dry run which you are so certainly sure of.

JM, America knows no greater threat right now than that posed by radical Islam, but when you, Ms. Schlussel, and the sycophants on this site continue to see ghosts where there are none, and speculate on a daily basis about non-threats,
and claim to confirm stories from witnesses who weren’t even at the scene of the initial altercation – like the boy who cried wolf, it desensitizes America to its real enemy and therein lies the danger of your ignorance and bigotry.

And when your hysteria leads to holding an entire religion hostage, and deprives American muslims their most fundamental rights, yes, it does piss me off.

What I’ve just written will translate to you that I’m a “lying libtard Muzzie” whose name is probably Mohammad. Well, God bless America.

Long answer: I imagine that he intended it as such, at least in part. He had obviously become enamored of radical Islam in recent years. If we ever get the full story, I suspect it will show his motivation to have been some mix of religious fanaticism and bugfuck insanity.

Are you asking me if he was a part of some organized effort to attack the United States? I don’t know. I haven’t seen any conclusive evidence that he was, but I wouldn’t rule it out.

I’m not sure I understand how this is relevant to the current discussion. Care to elucidate?

The common misconception to which you ascribe is that it’s not terror if it’s not the organized effort of some group in a coordinated attack. It’s clear to anyone with a minimum of common sense that his attack was motivated by Jihad philosophy and a cold and calculated attack. To ascribe this to some sort of insanity is a long stretch to avoid the unpleasant conclusion that we have enemies among the Muslims.

Your refusal to accept the simple and compelling truth indicates that you will refuse to accept any facts that contradict your preconceived notions. In the case of this flight, there is a lot of contradictory information so that it’s not fully clear what happened. However, to deny that we need vigilance against Islamic radicals is dangerously illogical and denial of the simple truth.

Debbie is doing a public service by revealing all the instances of attempted infiltration and undermining of our free society. Those that ignore the sweeping under the rug of dangers to our way of life and putting themselves and the ones they love in peril for no good reason.

The trolls posting nonstop for the last 48 hours have yet to explain why the ENTIRE crew of the flight refused to continue on with the flight and Air Tran had to replace them.

What kind of “nonthreat” would make the crew feel that their lives were in danger if they continued on with the flight? What kind of “nonthreat” would cause the plane to be delayed two and a half hours?

“The trolls posting nonstop for the last 48 hours have yet to explain why the ENTIRE crew of the flight refused to continue on with the flight and Air Tran had to replace them.

What kind of “nonthreat” would make the crew feel that their lives were in danger if they continued on with the flight? What kind of “nonthreat” would cause the plane to be delayed two and a half hours?

This was certainly a dry run.

JM on December 6, 2009 at 12:16 pm”

I believe quite a few people have answered your questions about why the crew was replaced. Particularly likely is that they were “out of hours” according to FAA regulations – although it is also possible that they were kept at the airport in order to find out why the hell they over-reacted to the situation.

I raise that last as a possibility because it is quite obvious that the whole thing was a “non-threat”. If it wasn’t, perhaps you could explain why every one of the passengers in the “suspect” group was allowed to fly on with AirTran (though 2 of them had to make a later flight). If you can manage to do so without claiming that the TSA, AirTran, and every member of the media who has looked at this are engaged in a conspiracy, I’ll be amazed.

I haven’t seen any commentary BY THE CREW that states they didn’t continue because they felt their life was in danger. All we have is the questionable statements from two passengers, at least one of which we know, by his own admission, fabricated some of the facts, and, who by official accounts wasn’t even on the airplane, The other couldn’t have known the reason for the crew change as it is unfathomable to assume that they would announce they they weren’t continuing because they felt their life was in danger.

It may very well be that, as I have stated before, that they simply were at a point in their duty time that day where continuing would have pushed them beyond the limits of FAA regulations. Also, as i have suggested before, some of the delay time could possibly be attributed to securing crew to continue the flight. Airline pilots don’t simply assume command of a flight at the drop of a dime in the terminal without going to flight ops for weather briefings, routing information, etc. Cabin crew on the other hand may have been able to have been replaced in a more timely fashion but a two hour delay to secure pilots in command is not beyond the realm of believabilty, especially when you factor in that there HAD to have been some type of incident which needed to be addressed for the flight to have come back to the gate in the first place.

Somewhere in the middle of the two sides here lies the truth and, as I have said before, until more credible witnesses come forward, witnesses that haven’t already perjured their own testimony, we will contiually be in this proverbial holding pattern of mis-information.

One would think that the trolls would be relaxed, confident in their belief that this is a hoax. Instead, they’re like whirling dervishes–posting frenetically, ridiculing, calling names and generally frothing at the mouth.

Again: If this were a ‘dry run’, these would have been the worst terrorists ever.

“OK guys, we’re about to go on a dry run for the next attack against the Great Satan. Let’s brainstorm a bit on how to best pull this off and make a successful attack next month.”
“Let’s dress in full regalia!”
“Yeah, then let’s make spectacles of ourselves dancing in the aisles!”
“Can I watch porn?”
“Why not? It will bring even more attention to you!”
“What about screaming in Arabic?”
“Brilliant!”
“Can I spout some stereotypical phrase from a nineteenth century pulp novel?”
“Sure, how about ‘Infidel dog’?”
“But what if this gets us thrown off the plane?”
“They’ll let us back on, no sweat.”
“But what if our attack is thwarted by a brave American who isn’t even on the plane and his imaginary Texas buddy?”
“That’s just a chance we have to take.”

“She unfortunately shares your propaganda soaked attitude even though she should support Palin as the best of all the political candidates out there now.

Facts Life on December 6, 2009 at 11:18 am”

Thank you for prooving my point. The fact that the Deb believes that Palin isn’t supportable works in her favor. That’s more than mitigated by the fact that she thinks an idiot talk radio entertainer is more believable than an official report. Especially since they show that fool who wrote the E-mail wasn’t even on the plane and the person who was interviewed on the show was at the gate when it all happened.

What the trolls miss, either deliberately or through stupidity, is that if suspicion can’t be legitimately raised when Muslims are acting very suspiciously, then when the real terrorists act less suspiciously, they won’t be screened out.

Also, given the fact that previous muslim perps were awarded a settlement instead of jail time may have given these guys hope that they could pull of the same stunt.

Regardless of what they were doing, their behavio should have gotten them thrown off the plane and denied the right to fly anymore, ever, except for a one-way trip back to whatever cesspool they originally crawled out of.

“The full party was 13 individuals. Their religion is not known to anyone at AirTran. The individuals in this party proceeded to their seats throughout the aircraft and were dressed like any other passenger.

“While the flight attendants did ask an individual to discontinue the use of portable electronic devices, there are no reports of screaming or shouting insults to our Crew Members.”

“There are no reports of any passenger standing up in a threatening manner. At NO time was there any physical altercation between passengers. Upon returning to the gate, the individual on the phone and his party were asked to de-plane and did so in full compliance of Crew Members’ instructions.”

If any of it did happen the way these fools say it did don’t you think that out of a plane of between 100-300 passengers there would be more than two people talking about it? Especially since they were on the plane and these two liars were not?